D-backs' Manager Gives Important Health and Lineup Updates

The Arizona Diamondbacks begin Cactus League play on Friday, facing the Colorado Rockies in their first game action of 2025. Before the game, manager Torey Lovullo updated the media on a variety of topics.

Health Updates

The manager said left-hander Jordan Montgomery will throw a bullpen on Saturday. Montgomery faced a minor delay in his throwing program as a result of an index finger strain, but began his program on Tuesday.

Lovullo said Montgomery is "throwing the ball well."

The manager also noted that catcher Adrian Del Castillo is dealing with a sore arm and will DH for the first round of games.

"Nothing too alarming, just the normal bumps and bruises. He'll get his at-bats, that's the most important thing right now. And then we'll have plenty of time to get him ramped up behind the plate," Lovullo said.

Adrian Del Castillo is dealing with “arm fatigue” according to #Dbacks manager Torey Luvollo. The catcher had imaging that came back clean. Lovullo did not specify elbow or shoulder. TBD.

Del Castillo will be limited to DH in early spring games
— Jack Sommers (@shoewizard59) February 21, 2025

Lovullo said that the team will be cautious with relievers Drey Jameson, Kyle Nelson and Bryce Jarvis this spring, as each of the three are working on a return from injury.

"The wrappers are all off on them, but we're just going to let them throw, recover, get feedback. I wouldn't say slow play, but we're just going to be situationally aware," Lovullo said.

The manager said it's particularly hard to slow-play an arm like Jameson, but

"He has a fast-forward mentality, and I think that's driven him his whole career. So we don't want to get in the way of that.

"But Drey is a classic case of somebody that has spent a lot of time away, and we're going to have to pull him back and be the parent in the room and say 'how are you feeling?' ... He's got an unbelievable amount of talent, and his mind allows him to just keep moving forward.

"So, yes, we'll probably have to pull him back a little bit, but he's extremely ready and wants to show us what he can do," Lovullo said.

Corbin Carroll

Star outfielder Corbin Carroll, along with outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. are two of the only starters not featured in Friday's lineup, but it's not due to injury.

Lovullo said he tries to stagger lineups, and that Carroll will play every other day going forward, starting Saturday.

"I have to send qualified lineups out there for regulars, and there's very strict guidelines for Major League Baseball as to what that is. So I have to send at least four.

"If I put the whole team out there today, I don't know if I'm going to have a qualified team out there tomorrow. Plus it gives everybody a little bit more time to ramp up," the manager continued.

Opening Day Starter

Lovullo has a tough decision to make in whether to start Corbin Burnes or Zac Gallen come March 27. He said he wants to "research" the decision, and it won't be an easy conversation.

But the manager doesn't anticipate the eventual decision causing strife within the clubhouse.

"It will be a tough conversation for me, not for them," Lovullo clarified.

"From what I'm learning about Corbin and what I know of Zac, I think they would understand and move aside for the other and support that decision wholeheartedly.

"I'm not in the people hurting business. Sometimes I can't worry about hurting feelings. I got to do the best thing for the players," Lovullo said.

The skipper said that the team usually decides on an Opening Day starter with around a week to go in camp. D-backs fans will have to simply wait for that time to arrive to know who's taking the mound the begin the season.

Gabriel Moreno

The D-backs' young franchise catcher will catch Burnes in Friday's game.

Lovullo said it was a "layup" to get his young stud catcher working with his newest ace, to begin building chemistry and rapport between the two.

"I think we have some very cerebral pitchers, and they want the catcher to be there and understand where to set up certain times to call certain pitches. Those discussions are being had right now.

"I want to get [Moreno] out there quickly to get all that soreness in and out of his body. But he was there for Burnes, and it was a layup for me to put them together today."

Pitching Depth

The D-backs have more starters than they know what to do with, for the moment. While other teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers can afford to stack their rotations with the biggest free agents, Arizona has a young, developing side of its rotation to go along with veteran aces like Burnes and Gallen.

In fact, it will be difficult to keep certain arms out of a rotation that can only fit five. Names like Brandon Pfaadt and Ryne Nelson being a part of the rotation might be in question, depending on health.

"We love having a surplus of starting pitching. We know that we're going to go eight, nine deep, and we have really, really good starting pitching that's ready to go out and compete. And we're going to have a tough decision to figure out who the five are.

"And once we do that, we're going to figure out what the next level of guy is, bullpen coverage in the minor leagues, and those are hard conversations too. But, yeah, when you talk about competing, we just want to take care of our business," Lovullo said.